The Obama administration has an exciting new-and-improved definition of an ACA enrollee

posted at 9:01 am on November 12, 2013 by Erika Johnsen

The WSJ‘s Monday scoop that around 40,000 to 50,000 people have so far managed to actually enroll through the federal exchange website would put the Obama administration at about an underwhelming ten percent of their October enrollment goal alone, or just over one percent of their total target for the six-month enrollment period; as Allahpundit already pointed out, those are hardly numbers worth wasting their collective breath over, since they’ll pretty much only serve to humiliate — but the administration has been promising all along that they will finally, officially release the first rash of enrollment numbers in a progress update in mid-November. I.e., right about now. What’s a hard-up administration to do?

Hey, here’s a wacky idea I can imagine being thrown around during the White House’s brainstorming sesh: The American layman might think that an ObamaCare “enrollee” is someone who has actually bought and paid for an insurance plan… but he could be wrong. Right?

Sarah Kliff at the Washington Post reports that the Obama administration will use a rather more inclusive definition than the ‘traditional’ one, and include both people who have actually purchased a plan as well as people who have an insurance plan sitting in their online shopping cart in their account:

“In the data that will be released this week, ‘enrollment’ will measure people who have filled out an application and selected a qualified health plan in the marketplace,” said an administration official, who requested anonymity to frankly describe the methodology. …

The administration plans to use this count of enrollees because that’s where their interaction with the healthcare.gov site ends, the administration official said. Insurance plans, rather than the federal government, are responsible for collecting the first month’s premium.

So, a rough translation would go something like: We don’t actually administer these insurance plans, so knowing when people have technically bought them is beyond our scope? What the what?

I have no idea how much that little maneuver will help them out — having a plan in your shopping cart means that you have made it through most of the HealthCare.Gov online process, and that’s still a crapshoot for a lot of people — but if it’s enough to make it at least vaguely sound like they are accruing some kind of total that doesn’t spell complete failure… count on it.

James O’Keefe reveals corruption at the heart of the president’s signature program.

Akzed on November 12, 2013 at 9:09 AM

Yup, God bless and protect him. Project Veritas is working hard to expose the truth.

Fallon on November 12, 2013 at 9:16 AM

A lesson for all right-wing parents. When your child tells you they want to major in Communications, or Video Journalism, or Art, encourage them, rather than telling them to get a degree in something “useful”.

The Left has used these skills to take over the culture. It is the next generation’s task to use them to take it back…

Let’s remember something else about these fake numbers. They are at 3% of their goal by including the fake enrollees. In the meantime we have spent millions paying 50,000 for “navigators” who coach people how to lie in order to get subsidies. So they have managed to sign up less than one fake enrollee for each navigator. $67M well spent!

And the really ugly part is yet to come. If the young healthies don’t show up the cost of Obamacare rates is going to climb even more. The stated goal is 17 million by March- how many of those are going to be fake enrollees and how many of those are going to be committing fraud by lying for subsidies?

Obamacare is dead on almost every aspect except one, the Medicaid expansion which was the main goal of Obamacare, adding 15 million new people to Medicaid at zero cost to them and 100% cost to the other tax payers…

Obamacare is dead on almost every aspect except one, the Medicaid expansion which was the main goal of Obamacare, adding 15 million new people to Medicaid at zero cost to them and 100% cost to the other tax payers…

A lesson for all right-wing parents. When your child tells you they want to major in Communications, or Video Journalism, or Art, encourage them, rather than telling them to get a degree in something “useful”.

The Left has used these skills to take over the culture. It is the next generation’s task to use them to take it back…

JohnGalt23 on November 12, 2013 at 9:21 AM

This is the most f***ed up advice… The vast majority of graduates with the majors you mentioned above cannot get a job or they may get a low paying job at best that is not enough for good living and for paying off their tuition loans…

And yet, the GOP is planning to rescue the Dems by pushing to delay certain aspects of it. We just can’t get out of our own way, can we?

As an aside, Sarah Kliff is the “reporter” that said she wasn’t covering the Gosnell trial (in her blog about healthcare) because it was a local crime story. Interesting what she decides merits attention, and what doesn’t.

And yet, the GOP is planning to rescue the Dems by pushing to delay certain aspects of it. We just can’t get out of our own way, can we?

As an aside, Sarah Kliff is the “reporter” that said she wasn’t covering the Gosnell trial (in her blog about healthcare) because it was a local crime story. Interesting what she decides merits attention, and what doesn’t.

changer1701 on November 12, 2013 at 9:33 AM

Delaying Obamacare is a defeat to Obama and his socialists… Remmeber that they shutdown the government last month in order to prevent the delay that was proposed by the Republicans… It is too late now to change the perception of this utter disaster among the majority of voters…

So Obama, using your logic, should we count the number of people who have already had their insurance cancelled (5 million) or the number of people who know they will be cancelled but haven’t been notified yet (50 million)?

Sarah Kliff at the Washington Post reports that the Obama administration will use a rather more inclusive definition than the ‘traditional’ one, and include both people who have actually purchased a plan as well as people who have an insurance plan sitting in their online shopping cart in their account

So Obama is cooking the books now with fake ‘assets’. It couldn’t get more Enronic than that.

the Obama administration will use a rather more inclusive definition than the ‘traditional’ one, and include both people who have actually purchased a plan as well as people who have an insurance plan sitting in their online shopping cart in their account

If Amazon included uncompleted shopping baskets as “sales,” Jeff Bezos would go to prison

As these establishment GOPs begin crafting bills to do what Tea Partiers wanted to do before the launch date, I think it is important to understand that legislation does not exist inside a vacuum.

The Tea Party politicians wanted to shield Americans from this terrible law. However, the law took full effect, minus all te exemptions that Obama illegally allowed. Any legislation to mitigate the harm caused by this law will effect the entire law, possibly creating different unforeseen, adverse effects. These politicians unveiling these bills are acting out of political hyperventilation from fear or excitement. This will not make for good legislation. This will merely compound the underlying problems with the law.

The GOP needs to call for a full repeal of the law and start from scratch. If not full repeal, ten everything that takes effect in 2014 should be repealed to start anew. This is 1/6 of the US economy. We should not be haphazardly amending it for political gain on either side.

That’s fine so long as you count somebody as enrolled when they actually paid. This administration is so dishonest they probably will double count. Once for adding something to your shopping cart and once when you actually pay up.

Obamacare is dead on almost every aspect except one, the Medicaid expansion which was the main goal of Obamacare, adding 15 million new people to Medicaid at zero cost to them and 100% cost to the other tax payers…

mnjg on November 12, 2013 at 9:29 AM

with a net gain of ZERO doctors to provide them services–BRILLIANT!

hillsoftx on November 12, 2013 at 9:31 AM

In fact it will end up being honored by fewer doctors. As the percentage of patients that offer doctors no more than the paltry rates of reimbursement in Obamacare, Medicaid, and Medicare increases, the fixed break-even point for a business will demand that more be turned away.

Now that you’ve chosen a plan you don’t like, and a plan you cannot afford, you’re just onetwothreefour five clicks away from your desired purchase. If you want to delay payment, (while you get over the sticker-shock), we have personal navigators who can direct you to a nearby mental health facility in your neighborhood, to confirm your stupidity in completing this purchase. Please keep in mind that your are now counted as an enrollee, and an IRS representative will contact you soon to comply with payment, fine, or imprisonment—also known as “choices” your federal government promised you. Thank you, and have a nice day!

The man in the Oval Office is a lying criminal and should be impeached and imprisoned. His cronies should be arrested and tried for fraud and treason, as well. There may even be a public execution in there somewhere. It’s time to put a stop to this thuggery. Wake up people!

The deal is in the basket should definitely be the Congressional GOP response when the Dems come slithering forth to ask for a delay in the individual mandate just weeks after declaring this absolutely unacceptable.

I went on a website that sells Mercedes Benz cars last week. I got as far as putting in my zip code to get a quote then saw the prices and was done with my 15 minutes of make believe shopping. Did the dealership I got the quote from list that I had purchased a car? I was never going to buy a Benz because I could never afford one. So Obama gets to count folks who looked at this mess of a website and decided mo thanks as Obamcare enrollees? Desperation thy name is Democrat.

In fact, didn’t you have to finish registering just to get the price quote? So basically, they’re counting anyone who even priced a policy?

bofh on November 12, 2013 at 9:55 AM

No. I priced several policies with varying income levels and medical usage to counter a Michael Hiltzik article in the LA Times. I never had to register. But they’ve probably got my IP address, which means that I can be counted as a “hit man” in some way.

the Obama administration will use a rather more inclusive definition than the ‘traditional’ one, and include both people who have actually purchased a plan as well as people who have an insurance plan sitting in their online shopping cart in their account:

So all of those EBT looters in Louisiana WalMarts owned all of the products that they placed in their carts?

This is the most f***ed up advice… The vast majority of graduates with the majors you mentioned above cannot get a job or they may get a low paying job at best that is not enough for good living and for paying off their tuition loans…

mnjg on November 12, 2013 at 9:32 AM

First of all, that is BS. People can find jobs with Arts degrees. They may not be in their field, or they may not the best paying jobs, or both. But work is there for people who know how to work.

Second, kids should not go into any college program with their eyes shut. But given all the info, lots of good conservative kids will realize that sacrificing some level of income may be worth it, for the opportunity to affect the culture. Which people in media, news and education get to do, far more than accountants, engineers, and stockbrokers.

You may not like that particular reality, but that doesn’t make it any less of a reality…

I heard a good one from one of the Broncos players yesterday, when asked “Doesn’t it hurt the team when Manning gets sacked and fumbles?” His answer “No, but it doesn’t result in a positive outcome for the play.”

I suspected this was what they would do; they’re habitual liars, and they want to pump up their results, so it’s predictable.

Yesterday I went to two online sites looking for Christmas presents, and at each site I put stuff in the shopping cart to take a look at it later and decide if I would buy. In both cases I ended up closing the tabs without buying. Under Obama administration definitions the two stores could count my carts as sold goods, even though no money did or ever will change hands.

Bernie Madoff, HHS advisor, came up with that variation on the ZeroCare scheme, am I right?

Please remember that the media allowed Obama to create another metric that made no sense – “jobs saved”. The media will allow him to say and do anything he wants and will cover for him all day long. If the GOP play their cards correctly, they will remind people of this phony stat and continue with the platform that he’s a snake oil salesman or a flat out liar.